The present invention relates to surgical instruments and in particular to combined forceps and scissors for suturing.
Presently, when suturing, doctors will use a forceps to grasp a wound, pull a suture through a wound, then put the forceps down and pick up a scissors to cut the suture. This is a somewhat awkward operation and requires the presence of many tools, each of which must be sterilized. It would be desirable to have one tool which the doctor could use to both grasp a wound while pulling the suture or needle through the wound and subsequently cut the suture.
A tool for holding a suture while it is being cut is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,443,313 to Profy. Profy shows a scissors with a hemostat grasping surface at the end which closes before the scissors blade closes. Thus, a doctor can use the Profy device to grasp a suture and then apply more pressure to the scissors handles to then cut the suture. A forceps is still required to grasp the wound because hemostats are not designed to grasp skin. If a doctor tried to use the Profy device simply for grasping a suture or anything else without cutting it, the doctor may apply too much pressure and inadvertently cut the suture at an inappropriate position.